On the last day for Moods of Norway Melrose, from left Stefan Dahlkvist, Aaron Brents and Ben Mayer. Picture courtesy of Stefan Dahlkvist.
Moods of Norway Shutters Melrose Store
Moods of Norway has been on a mission to push the borders of menswear. The Oslo-headquartered company made gold sequin suits and pink satin suits for dudes. The brand with a cheeky sense of humor also made contemporary clothes for men and women, and found its way onto the world stage. It was an official designer for the Norwegian Olympic team. Its Olympic styles took a bow during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
In the U.S., the brand ran wholesale operations. It also ran a flagship store in Los Angeles. On Robertson Boulevard for a few years, it moved to Melrose Avenue in 2013. It was located a few blocks away from the corner of Melrose and Fairfax avenues. The brand also produced runway shows at a few Style Fashion Week events in West Hollywood, Calif.
After a bankruptcy in September 2017, the company restructured. While the Norwegian operation will remain in business, the 2,200-square-foot Melrose store closed on March 1. The US office is scheduled to close later this year, said Stefan Dahlkvist, president of Moods of Norway International and a Los Angeles resident.
“We had 11 good years and three not-so-good years,” Dahlkvist said. Macro-economic factors squeezed the company. Norway is a major oil producer. A drop in the price of oil in the past few years drove up the cost of goods more than 30 percent, Dahlqvist said. It was too expensive to run an international operation.
Dahlqvist hopes that this will not be the finale for Moods’ US division, and that eventually, it will make a comeback.
